New laptop

[Randy_Baton]

Budget (including currency): £1500

Country: UK

Games, programs or workloads that it will be used for: streaming / you tube at 4k  

 

 

I currently have a DELL XPS 15 9560 (2017), its hooked up to my LGCX and handles all my media streaming and downloading (Usenet + plex) its fine for that but its been getting a bit noisy when playing things at 4k and struggles to play youtube HD at 60hz in chrome. Plays fine in edge though.... Plex is chromium based so its also struggling, I can use the plex app on my TV but there seems to be some sort of codec issue where i can't skip forward/backward or resume from where I left on a lot of the TV shows i download, it only happens on UK shows so i presume its a certain pirate group. This isn't an issue on the pc build but plex on my laptop its just too noisy from the laptop fans. 

 

I changed the thermal paste and cleaned out the dust a year or so ago but it didn't make to much of difference and anyway its 5 years old so probably time for a change.  

 

Things that don't matter other than for resale value:

Looks, for 99% of the time its going to be docked to the side of my TV behind a plant

Like wise, screen / keyboard / trackpad are going to be used very infrequently, just when traveling or maybe in the bath (laptops will be on a chair to the side of he bath and on battery) 

 

I'd still like something slimish, for travelling but its doesn't need to be ultra light.

 

I guess i just need something capable of easily playing 4k UHD and isn't a complete potato outside of that and it will be on most of the time so something that isn't power hungry at idol would be good. My ast 2 laptops have been XPS's but i feel the latest version is kind of overkill for what i need.

 

Having written that... Maybe my best option is too keep my current XPS for travelling and build a dedicated media pc to sit behind my tv. 

 

 

 

 

[rikitikitavi]

53 minutes ago, Randy_Baton said:

I changed the thermal paste and cleaned out the dust a year or so ago but it didn't make to much of difference and anyway its 5 years old so probably time for a change.  

 

Check your thermals - you might have not repasted nicely. Do a clean reinstall, and test only with barebone usage, like Plex. Fans might be acting up.

 

My 10yo MacBookAir with Plex/media server and some extra func on 4GB RAM and bottom of the barrel i5 - streams 4K Plex (didn't check if it can play it directly through HDMI though), and only fans up once in a while when I do more than Plex. So your pc should be overqualified.

[Randy_Baton]

On 8/30/2022 at 9:56 PM, rikitikitavi said:

Check your thermals - you might have not repasted nicely. Do a clean reinstall, and test only with barebone usage, like Plex. Fans might be acting up.

 

My 10yo MacBookAir with Plex/media server and some extra func on 4GB RAM and bottom of the barrel i5 - streams 4K Plex (didn't check if it can play it directly through HDMI though), and only fans up once in a while when I do more than Plex. So your pc should be overqualified.

Its a heat issue with the model rather than an issue with raw power. I've been reading up and it seem like under volting the CPU is the thing most people settle on but the BIOS locks users from doing this so it looks a right PITA. I did a complete fresh install a while ago and it didn't have any noticeable impact. on fan noise and slow down.